In a conventionally known pneumatic tire, a film that is made of either a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition produced by blending a thermoplastic resin component and an elastomer component is used as an inner liner layer (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). The use of such a film has an advantage of making the inner liner layer lighter in weight and of improving the fuel economy.
A film-like inner liner layer made of either a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition, however, has a higher elastic modulus than an inner liner layer made of rubber. For this reason, such an elastic inner liner layer is likely to be separated at its end portions. Therefore, it has been strongly demanded to take measures against this problem.